It is with great sorrow that we have to announce that Dr Penny Lacey passed away peacefully on Monday 12 January 2015. We will remember her as a colleague who was admired by both her students and the community for the contributions that she made to the field through her teaching and research.

The Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues' Massive Open Online Course (MOOC), 'What is Character? Virtue Ethics in Education' has attracted a huge amount of interest ahead of its launch, reflecting the growing interest in character education.

How democratic is arms-length government? Catherine Durose, Jonathan B. Justice and Chris Skelcher argue that those who consider it to be an undemocratic phenomenon over-simplify, and make the case for assessing the question in a more citizen and community focussed manner.